The Role of Auction Barns in Today’s Cattle Market with Joplin Regional Stockyards
How Joplin Regional Stockyards has adapted to serve ranchers over the years
The United States beef industry is unique for a plethora of reasons, one being the vast number of opportunities for ranchers to market their calves. From balling calves to yearlings and all breeds and backgrounds there’s an option for all ranchers whether they have 2 or 2,000 calves to market each year. Ranchers can sell via video auctions, direct to feedlots, direct to consumer, buy shackle space with a small packer or market through an auction barn just to list a few options. Marketing through auction barns is often viewed as the traditional route, but their role in the modern beef industry is still crucial.
Skyler Moore is a co-owner of Joplin Regional Stockyards – one of the largest livestock auction facilities in the country which is about 9 acres under one roof plus outside traps that can hold up to 5,000 additional head. Joplin Regional Stockyards is a family business for Moores. Skyler’s father bought into the business in 1985 and today Skyler, his brother, brother-in-law and father are all involved. The history of this stockyard goes back to 1930 when it was founded in downtown Joplin, MO by the railroad tracks like many stockyards during this time. In 1995 the stockyard moved locations and currently sits east of Joplin right off of Interstate 44. In 2023 540,000 head of livestock were sold through the facility either through the ring or with their Prime Time video auction platform.
The role of the auction barn has mostly remained consistent across the decades – provide a location for producers to connect with cattle buyers and sell the calves they have to offer. What has changed over the decades is how the team at Joplin has created more opportunities for cattlemen and women to successfully market their calves each year. Skyler said, “Not only do we play the role of marketing cattle for people; we help them with their genetics, vaccinations, weaning and other management factors to connect them with the right buyer.” They spend time connecting with customers to help them understand which genetics, management practices and programs will best fit their unique herds. Skyler noted that producers have come a long way in the past 20 years and are more intentional about castrating, dehorning, vaccinating and upholding best management practices.
One management practice that Skyler encourages producers to incorporate especially if they sell in volume is backgrounding and producers are seeing the benefit of it. “15 years ago, October used to be our biggest month. Now it is one of our slowest months because people are backgrounding for 60 days,” said Moore. High-risk calves create more labor and profit risk for feedlots that are already short on help to manage sick calves. It's a preferred practice that pays off more often than not and can benefit your reputation as a cattle producer.
Joplin Regional Stockyards does more than connect large producers with volume buyers. They’ve created opportunities for small producers to increase their profits too. He said, “About 70% of the calves we sell come from people with 40 cows or less.” These producers can’t access the benefits of selling in volume, so they created a comingling program. This program allows small producers to haul in on Sunday. Their calves receive a modified-live nasalgen and are then comingled with other like calves to sell on Monday at 11:00 in the morning. This allows smaller producers to tap into the benefits of selling large groups of calves. It also speeds up the sale which benefits larger producers.
Specialty sales and value-added programs are also great opportunities for cattle producers to participate in. Joplin has their own tagging program but has seen countless producers benefit from breed-specific tagging programs too. Skyler said, “The more we can tell buyers about the calves, the more the value of the calves increases.” These programs are another tool to differentiate your calves and build up your reputation which is the most important piece of marketing calves. “This business is all about reputation,” said Skyler. If someone buys your calves and they are healthy and perform well, they’ll want to buy them again next year.
Skyler encourages producers to build relationships with the people at their local auction barn to build a management and marketing program that works for them. He said, “The auction business isn’t like any other business. It is true price discovery. People are actively bidding and it is a true market.” And, while it might be the same barn grandpa sold at; it is still a hub for building a reputation around your ranch and calves with numerous programs and opportunities to tap into.
